Collison's second half helps UCLA pull away

Darren Collison had all 18 of his points in the second half and
freshman Kevin Love had 16 points and nine rebounds as the
fourth-ranked Bruins pulled away from No. 17 Washington State,
67-59, on Thursday.

Russell Westbrook chipped in 14 points for UCLA (21-2, 9-1
Pac-10), which won its fifth straight contest and 14 of 15
overall.

The Bruins, who swept the season series with the Cougars for the
fourth straight campaign, also remained one game ahead of
Stanford (8-2) in the conference after the ninth-ranked Cardinal
defeated Oregon, 72-43, on Thursday.

The contest was tight throughout and, after being tied at 26-26
at the break, neither team had a lead bigger than three points
for nearly 14 minutes to start the second half.

But Collison's 3-pointer gave UCLA the lead for good at 44-41
midway through the second half and the Bruins later used an 8-0
run - capped by a layup by Love - to take a 54-45 bulge with
4:42 left to play.

The Cougars (17-5, 5-5) could get no closer than five the rest
of the way and suffered their third straight loss at home after
opening the season 11-0 at Wallis Beasley Performing Arts
Coliseum.

Washington State, which started the season 14-0 before losing to
UCLA, had been ranked as high as fourth in the nation and has
now dropped into fifth place in the conference due to the recent
skid.

A junior point guard, Collison went 5-of-8 from the floor in the
second half - after missing all four attempts in the first -
and made all seven of his free-throw attempts, helping UCLA pull
away.

Love had six early points as UCLA led, 10-4, just over four
minutes into the game before Washington State came back and
eventually took the lead.

Both teams shot over 50 percent in the first half and, after the
Cougars led by as many as four late in the half, Westbrook's
dunk tied the game for the Bruins, 26-26, at the intermission.

UCLA outrebounded Washington State, 29-20, and the contest
featured nine ties and nine lead changes.

Kyle Weaver had 13 points, leaving him two shy of 1,000 for his
career, and Aron Baynes added 11 for Washington State, which is
on its first three-game losing streak since dropping the last
seven contests of the 2005-06 season.